Thirteen state attorneys general took the unprecedented step Friday of calling for the Education Department to remove one of the watchdog agencies it uses to oversee colleges, saying in a biting letter to the department that the agency had "ruined the lives of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable students whom it was charged to protect."

The Education Department charges the Accrediting Council of Independent Schools and Colleges (ACICS), an independent nonprofit, with vetting and oversight of colleges across the country, trusting them to give the stamp of approval that allows colleges to rake in millions in federal student loan money.

ACICS gave that accreditation stamp to scores of discredited and now-shuttered for-profit colleges — including the giant Corinthian, a decision that the attorneys general describe in their letter as ACICS' "most spectacular failure." Corinthian schools were accredited by ACICS until the day the company declared bankruptcy.

Led by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who also led a suit against Corinthian, the group of 13 attorneys general called on the Education Department to revoke approval from ACICS, which is up for review this summer. In a statement, ACICS said it had not seen the letter and that it "looks forward to reviewing all public comments and defending its merits... in June."

At Corinthian and other schools, ACICS overlooked the schools' falsified job placement rates, the letter said. According to an analysis from ProPublica, the accreditor routinely offered approval to schools where graduation rates were below 40% and the majority of students had not paid even a fraction of their loans. (ACICS called that data "cherry-picked.")

There has been growing scrutiny of all accreditors, agencies that the Department of Education recently called the "watchdogs that don't bite." A Wall Street Journal investigation found that accreditors of nonprofits, as well as for-profits, routinely approved schools that systematically failed their students, failing to graduate many and leaving more steeped in debt.

"Even in the crowded field of accrediting failures, ACICS deserves special opprobrium," the letter by Healey and other attorneys general said. "ACICS has proven that it is not willing or capable of playing the essential gatekeeping role required of accreditors. It accordingly should no longer be allowed to do so."

The letter was signed by attorneys general from Massachussets, Illinois, Maryland, Kentucky, Iowa, D.C., Maine, New York, Hawaii, New Mexico, Minnesota, Washington, and Oregon.

Share on Twitter
Share on Twitter
Twitter
Share on Facebook
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Share on System
Share on System
System

We value your privacy

We and our partners use technology such as cookies on our site to personalize content and ads, provide social media features, and analyze our traffic. Click below to consent to the use of this technology across the web. You can change your mind and change your consent choices at anytime by returning to this site.

BuzzFeed

Information storage and access

The storage of information, or access to information that is already stored, on your device such as advertising identifiers, device identifiers, cookies, and similar technologies.

Personalisation

The collection and processing of information about your use of this service to subsequently personalise advertising and/or content for you in other contexts, such as on other websites or apps, over time. Typically, the content of the site or app is used to make inferences about your interests, which inform future selection of advertising and/or content.

Ad selection, delivery, reporting

The collection of information, and combination with previously collected information, to select and deliver advertisements for you, and to measure the delivery and effectiveness of such advertisements. This includes using previously collected information about your interests to select ads, processing data about what advertisements were shown, how often they were shown, when and where they were shown, and whether you took any action related to the advertisement, including for example clicking an ad or making a purchase. This does not include personalisation, which is the collection and processing of information about your use of this service to subsequently personalise advertising and/or content for you in other contexts, such as websites or apps, over time.

Content selection, delivery, reporting

The collection of information, and combination with previously collected information, to select and deliver content for you, and to measure the delivery and effectiveness of such content. This includes using previously collected information about your interests to select content, processing data about what content was shown, how often or how long it was shown, when and where it was shown, and whether the you took any action related to the content, including for example clicking on content. This does not include personalisation, which is the collection and processing of information about your use of this service to subsequently personalise content and/or advertising for you in other contexts, such as websites or apps, over time.

Third-party vendors

Information storage and access

The storage of information, or access to information that is already stored, on your device such as advertising identifiers, device identifiers, cookies, and similar technologies.

View CompaniesHide Companies

Company

Lotame Solutions, Inc.

OpenX Software Ltd. and its affiliates

The Rubicon Project, Limited

Index Exchange, Inc.

comScore, Inc.

DoubleVerify Inc.​

LiveRamp, Inc.

Taboola Europe Limited

PubMatic, Inc.

Outbrain UK Ltd

EMX Digital LLC

Nielsen Marketing Cloud

Google (DFP / AdX)

Personalisation

The collection and processing of information about your use of this service to subsequently personalise advertising and/or content for you in other contexts, such as on other websites or apps, over time. Typically, the content of the site or app is used to make inferences about your interests, which inform future selection of advertising and/or content.

View CompaniesHide Companies

Company

Lotame Solutions, Inc.

OpenX Software Ltd. and its affiliates

LiveRamp, Inc.

Outbrain UK Ltd

EMX Digital LLC

Nielsen Marketing Cloud

Google (DFP / AdX)

Ad selection, delivery, reporting

The collection of information, and combination with previously collected information, to select and deliver advertisements for you, and to measure the delivery and effectiveness of such advertisements. This includes using previously collected information about your interests to select ads, processing data about what advertisements were shown, how often they were shown, when and where they were shown, and whether you took any action related to the advertisement, including for example clicking an ad or making a purchase. This does not include personalisation, which is the collection and processing of information about your use of this service to subsequently personalise advertising and/or content for you in other contexts, such as websites or apps, over time.

View CompaniesHide Companies

Company

Lotame Solutions, Inc.

OpenX Software Ltd. and its affiliates

LiveRamp, Inc.

Outbrain UK Ltd

Google (DFP / AdX)

Content selection, delivery, reporting

The collection of information, and combination with previously collected information, to select and deliver content for you, and to measure the delivery and effectiveness of such content. This includes using previously collected information about your interests to select content, processing data about what content was shown, how often or how long it was shown, when and where it was shown, and whether the you took any action related to the content, including for example clicking on content. This does not include personalisation, which is the collection and processing of information about your use of this service to subsequently personalise content and/or advertising for you in other contexts, such as websites or apps, over time.

View CompaniesHide Companies

Company

Lotame Solutions, Inc.

LiveRamp, Inc.

Google (DFP / AdX)

Measurement

The collection of information about your use of the content, and combination with previously collected information, used to measure, understand, and report on your usage of the service. This does not include personalisation, the collection of information about your use of this service to subsequently personalise content and/or advertising for you in other contexts, i.e. on other service, such as websites or apps, over time.